RX-2 radiator options
 

Hey guys, just wondering what other radiators RX-2 owners have installed in their cars. Right now I have what I was told is a larger RX-4 radiator and it fits well with small side bracket "extentions." What I was wondering is are there nice aluminum radiators that people have fitted? Perferrably ones that don't cost 1 million dollars? Heh

Anyways, let me know what you have installed.. I'd also like to keep the heater connection if at all possible. I have an aluminum Nippondenso RX-7 radiator, but it's a tad too tall and doesn't have the heater bung so I don't really want to use it.

Thanks,
Mike

which RX7 radiator are you talking about? frist gen? I can tell you with all the custom crap they make thses days one shoudl fit. but like you said its jstu a matter of finding one with the "options" you want. keep us informed on what you find. Matt

Yeah it's a 1st gen. RX-7 radiator.. much taller. On my current radiator in the RX-2 the core is 22" wide by 11" high.. the RX-7 one is 22" wide by like 17" high. I don't think it would fit in there without removing the oil cooler, which obviously I don't want to do.

I called around a little and got nowhere so far.. one place just flat out said "we don't have that." Heh. I do know you can get nice alum. ones from Aus. but they are $500+ and that's not even with shipping.. somewhat out of my price range.

Mike

I've got an 80 RX-7 radiator and oil cooler, and it fits fine. I'm running a 3.8L Taurus electric fan, too, which has a perfect enclosure. If you use an S3 radiator, they had the beehive coolers on the oil pedestal, so those radiators are too tall.

i recall something about a honda civic radiator i dont remember if it was for a rx2 or rx3 though.

I've got an '83 stock Rx7 radiator, oil cooler at the bottom, electric fan. Usually sits about 188 degrees on a 85+ day.

Ah, that's good to know. I will probably just have mine repaired if possible, but if not I guess the shorter 1st gen. RX-7 radiators will do. I'd love to get a nice fancy aluminum radiator, but they seem damned expensive.. and so far all I've seen from companies like Fluidyne & Griffin are for 86-93 RX-7s.

Mike

you could ask around the first gen guy, and see what they use in the 79 +80 rx7s matt

I have 2 so no need.. heh, the core sizes are the same. Only thing I need to confirm is if the connectors are "angled" correctly and if they have the heater connection. If Jamie is already using one then it seems everything lines up. Did you have to modify anything like brackets, etc. Jamie?

Mike

Howe makes reasonable priced aluminum radiators. One in my racecar is 19" x 22.5" x 1.5" thick. $300 with high pressure cap from the race car shop, and summitracing.com sells it for less last I checked.

Any RX-7 short radiator will work but a pain finding the correct lower radiator hose due to the angle of lower inlet.. Its easier to just bring the SA/FB radiator to a shop and have them cut/reweld the lower inlet. The idea is to make it come out straight.

I took my rx2 rad to a friend and had it recored with a high efficiency copper core
it has little dimples on the tubes and the maker of this core claims that it cools
55% better than the stock smooth tube core.
it keeps my supercharged 13b cool no problems.
matt

it cools better as it has more fins to route the air thru the cores.

this dimple tube core really has no more fine than the stock i dont think
but they say that the dimples give more surface area.
matt

Although it is an expensive option, PWR makes all aluminium radiators for the RX 2. May want to check them out.

I just went with a brand new '81 RX-7 short radiator with a "lifetime" warranty.. only $140 delivered to my door, not bad. I'm curious how this lifetime warranty works though, will need to look into that.

Mike

..and I did a little pricing on the PWR radiators. Man they're nice, but $500+ so far from what I've seen. Ouch

I would look through a summit mag and look at the scirroco radiators, about the right size, inlet/outlet on the right size, and not too expensive.

Does the R100 radiator fit the Rx-2 ? The R100 one is aluminium.

I just used a universal flex rib type hose, top and bottom, cut to fit no problem. I did use some brackets on the drivers side as the Rx2 is slightly wider where the radiator sits.

good idea papasmurf. shoot you could probably pull one out of a wrecking yard, smash a huge hole in it to get the price down, jsut to see if it would fit. and if so buy a new aftermarket one. I wish i had a good connection with an autowrecker so i coudl get great deals. on parts.

Alright, got my rx-2 drivable today.. its 13bt with agresive street port..and it runs HOT!! Stablelized at 215* on the drive home from where I did the engine swap creeped right up if I got into any kina of boost... So what are my options. I see any fb rad will fit the rx-2.. but will the oil cooler still be able to mount under it? Is there any alumnium I could get from summit that I could fit, with oil cooler still in under the rad like stock? I really want to get this issue address before I make the drive out to SS8.

Or even a local LA area shop that could custom make an alumnuim one with out making me bend over.. trying to keep it under 300,

Any help would be great!

Actually it's not any FB radiator.. has to be the "short" FB one which has a core size of 11x22" -- some other FB radiators are 16.5x22" -- pretty sure these are the ones that have the honeycomb oil cooler that's under the oil filter. Unless you want to run that weird honeycomb thing you could go with the taller radiator.

I'll let you know how the oil cooler bolts up tomorrow.. that's when I'm installing the new '81 radiator. At a quick glance it appears to bolt right up. Seems the biggest issue is the lower radiator hose angle, but flex tube should remedy that.

I found a best price of $499 for the PWR aluminum radiator for the RX-2. Better than most websites out there, but still up there.

Mike

yea let me know, what is the core made out of? Brass? The prevous owner had the rx-2 one recored.. and it just won't cut.. not even for street driving. So wonding if the FB rad will work. I'd like to get a pwr, but it wouldn't be here by ss8.
Let me know how it goes, and how it cools. Also where did you pick it up from?

So how did the install go? Any pics? Any fitting issues?